October 27, 2005

MOLOTOV AND RIBBENTROP DON'T STAY MARRIED:

Al Sadr Militia in Deadly Clash With Sunnis (AP, October 27, 2005)

Shiite militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr (search) clashed Thursday with Sunni militants in fighting that killed at least 15 people, and three American soldiers died in separate attacks the day before, officials said.

The competition is fierce, but the stupidest thing the pundits have said about Iraq has to be that Sadr could join forces with the Sunni.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 27, 2005 1:57 PM
Comments

In military parlance, this is called a "red-on-red" engagement. Standard tactical doctrine is to move friendly forces out of the immediate battle area to a place from which they can observe the fighting, and then to pop plenty of popcorn.

Posted by: Mike Morley at October 27, 2005 2:24 PM

Of course it's stupid, but it is probably the highest dream of the media, so they keep talking about it.

Posted by: jim hamlen at October 27, 2005 3:13 PM

I don't think it was the stupidest. A tacit or explicit alliance was quite likely as long as it looked like the provisional government was losing. Of course, it would have have lasted only until that government fell, after which the various factions would have fought each for power. What this tells us is that Al-Sadr has given up on bring down the Coaliation allied government of Iraq and is now fighting the Sunni thugs for local influence.

Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at October 27, 2005 3:20 PM

From the article, it sounds like Muqi's boys got their behinds kicked very badly.

Posted by: jd watson [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 27, 2005 3:31 PM
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